The God Hunter by Tim Lees

Author:Tim Lees
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2014-07-31T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 34

NO ONE’S RESPONSIBLE

He was better with a glass in his hands. He gulped the liquid down like medicine. I pulled a chair over. There was a lot of nice stuff in the room: some long flute vases, shading from turquoise to a deep vermillion; a big, wall-­mounted TV; ornaments and statuettes and paintings by, I’d guess, the latest up-­and-­comers from the city’s art world. In other words, there was an awful lot to smash up if he chose not to cooperate.

I said, “This thing. This killer. You knew what it looked like, didn’t you? That’s why you wanted me in on it. Not because I was the expert, not even because you thought I’d want a cover-­up as much as you. But because if I couldn’t solve the problem, you could always blame me. Right?”

“You’ve got this all wrong.”

“You’d have had me framed for murder, wouldn’t you?”

“Chris! Anna! You are so wrong about me, you really don’t—­”

“Lighter,” I said.

She passed me the lighter. I looked around. There was a beautiful wooden coffee table just in reach. Unusual design. Sweeping curves, all very elegant.

“Nice table,” I said. “But I think I could improve it.”

I clicked a flame, held it to the table edge. Let the wood begin to blacken, that faint, charred smell mingling with the scent of Anna’s cigarettes.

“No—­don’t. Look—­”

“At what, Shailer?”

“That’s a very valuable item—­”

“Smells like it. Rug looks pretty pricey, too. I could do some work on that next, I suppose. Go up like a bonfire, that would.”

“All right, all right!” He smacked his fists against his thighs, over and over, like a small boy in a tantrum.

I tossed the lighter back to Anna. She lit another cigarette. This time, he didn’t say a word.

“You knew,” I said.

“If I tell you, is that it? I mean, we’re done?”

“Depends on what you tell me.”

He digested this. Then, in a small voice, not quite his own, said, “There was a photo. A still from a security camera. That was early on. I recognized it. At least, I saw the resemblance. My first thought—­sorry Chris—­was that you were the killer. There’s some weird guys in field—­you know that. And I thought, well, he’s cracked up. See? He’s—­well.”

“And your second thought was, you’d screwed up, but at least you’d found someone to take the blame.”

“No! No, no. I checked your whereabouts, obviously, at the time of the murders. Now, that was something I didn’t have to do, you know? I could have just gone straight to HR, told them what I saw—­”

“Hang on,” I said. “Backtrack here. How come you’re looking at this picture anyway? What the hell leads you to that?”

“Well, I know a lot of ­people. That’s my job, see? I’ve got friends, a lot of friends, and some of them are very, very powerful. Some are in the legal system in your country, Anna. Could be useful to you, hey? Could come in handy?” He nodded fervently to her. I reached out one foot and dug him in the ribs with my boot-­toe.

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